Outlet-box cover.



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UNITED sTATEs raTENT oEErcE.

GEORGE B. MCBEAN, or onicAGo, ILLINois.

OUTLET-Box eovEn.

Speeication of Letten latent.

Patented May 1,2, 1908.`

Application filed January 4, 190. Serial No. 350,707.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. MoBEAN, a

- citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new1 and useful Im rovements in Outlet-Box Covers, of which t e following is a speciiication.

In wiring houses and other buildings for electric lights, it is at present necessary, in order to Ameet the requirements of modern insurance and municipal regulations, to inmanneras to provide, at areasonable cost,

a suitably-insulated lamp socket and a stro durable and readilyT attached cover, of a c aracter not likely to be burned out by any short circuiting which may occur back of the cover within the box, but so far as I am aware in all of these prior attempts the construction is such that arcing may sometimes occur between the conductors and the metal of the cover, even when the cover is lined with anon-conducting ber, or like materialfriveted orotherwise secured to its inner face. y

It is therefore the object .of the. resent linvention to improve these combine covers and socketsin such manner that they may be made with the lowest ossible expense and at the same time fwill ave a neat a pearance, willI give me theA Widest ossib e choice of insulating material and w11 effectually prevent arcing and short circuiting,a's

more fully :hereinafter set forth.

The invention consists inthe matters thus and hereinafter set forth and particularly.

pointed out in the appended claims`,rwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, ,in which,

Figure 1 is a sectional view of an outlet box, provided with a porcelain lamp socket 1and cover made of substantially a single piece,

in accordance with my; invention. Fig` 2 is an outside front view ofthe socket and cover. In said drawing, 1 designates an ordinary terminal or outlet boxinto whichthe'conwhic it is to serve as a cover.

I somesoft metal or a ductor wires 2 of anl electric lighting system vare brought, usually through tubes 3.

CV deslgnates, as a whole, the cover of the box, which, in accordance with the present .y

invention', is made of what practically amounts to a s olid piece oiglass, porcelap,

or other insulating frangible material. its center this cover is formed with a socket portion 4 that is made of the usual shape of sockets for receiving incandescent electric lamp bulbs, and is provided With'the usual metallic terminals 5 and 6, one of which takes the Vform of an internally threaded sleeve into which the end of `the bulb can be screwed. Portions 7 and 8 of these'terminals are extended back through apertures in the rear end of thesocket to receive fthe bindin screws 9 by which connections are -made witg4 the conductors 2'. l

The disk portion ofthe cover, of which the socket ortion 4 forms, as it were, a central y hub, is ikewise made of frangible insulating material such as porcelain, and surrounds the socket like a i'lan e, its extreme diameter bein substantially t at of the outlet box for This portion of the cover may be madel comparatively thin `and light,l and atthe samev time kept from warping by a plurality of radial ribs 10,

herein shown as vthree in'number.

Radially elongatedfslots 11 rare provided at diametrically opposite oints near the outer edges of the cover, an by passing screws 12 through these slots into tapped holes 13 in the outlet box, the cover may be readily and securely clam ed to the latter. The radial elongation o the holes 11 renders it unnecessary. for the holes 13 to be located with any great degree of accuracy, and in order to prel I vent the pressure of the screws from cracking the frangible cover the slots l1 are lined with flanged, bushin s 14, preferably` made of Iloy into which the heads of the screws seat themselves Without placing a breaking strain upon the cover.

In the practical making of the cover and socketthus described, the socket and disk portion of the cover can be molded separately, the disk being provided at its center with a hele large enough to -receive the socket. The latter is then inserted in the disk and positioned there by the contact of shoulder 15, formed on the socket, with the face 'of thedisk. The parts are 'then baked* together, after being treated with the wash which forms the glaze of the orcelain, and whenltaken from the voven be cemented together and in what amounts to a single integral piece. As is obvious, by thus combining the socket.and cover in a unitary structure I shall not only have the widest possible choice of insulatmor materials but am. also able to mold or press tle structure at a single operation and t us materially reduce the expense of manufacture as well as entirely eliminateV destructive arcing and short circuiting; and it will be observed. also that by my manner of fastening the cover in place I am' enabledjto' use material even more frangible .than porcelain (for instance, annealed glass, coloredor uncolored) as the flanges on the bushings need embrace the edges of the holes but comparatively'lightly, thel body portions oflthe bushings taking up ali the strain of the fasteni screws.

A cover constructe in this manner can be produced at exceedingly low cost and made exceedingly attractive in appearance.

I'claim as my invention l. The .combination of an outlet box for electric conductors, a combined cover and lamp socket, made of irangible insulating material, the socket portion being made integral with the cover portion and rovided with metallic-terminals and being a apted to receive and hold the lamp, and the' cover ortion being provided with holes near its e ges,

metallic bushings in these holes, and fastening screws assing through the bushings and engaging t e body portion thereof, thusrelieving the rangible material of the strain of the fastening devices.

2. A cover for outlet boxes consisting of a plate of insulating material adapted for attachment to the box and having formed inof the cover, these ribs beingintegral with the socket and the cover, andsuitable terrminals carried by the socket atits innerend.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as vmy invention, I aiiix my signature in pres.-

ence of two subscribing witnesses, this 18th of December, A. D. 1906.

GEORGE B. MCBEA Witnesses:

K. A. COSTELLO,

M. V. MOGRATH.

tegral-with it a lamp socket, this socket ex tending portion ofthe socket to the Vinner facey 

